Photo: ParsonsPhotographyNL · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Corner Brook: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Fire has left almost no mark near Corner Brook: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Corner Brook a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Corner Brook’s hazards
For Corner Brook, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Corner Brook faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Corner Brook grades A− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Corner Brook’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #26 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #885 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Corner Brook: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Corner Brook’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Corner Brook at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Corner Brook: 83% within 5 km, 78% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Newfoundland and Labrador · highest of 32
Near-zero burning puts Corner Brook with 7 of the 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, far below Labrador City at 0.43%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Corner Brook shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Flooding around Corner Brook is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Corner Brook: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Corner Brook the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s in 2021.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Flood Risk Mapping Study and the Development of a Flood Forecasting Service: Humber River Communities | Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | 2021 | final |
| Corner Brook | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2013 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Corner Brook with 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Corner Brook between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Corner Brook.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Corner Brook’s homes stand in a flood zone.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Corner Brook just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Corner Brook it is only $0.007, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Newfoundland and Labrador peaks in Holyrood ($0.015); Corner Brook, at $0.007, is below the median of $0.011.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Corner Brook than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Corner Brook.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Corner Brook: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Corner Brook’s area has 10%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Corner Brook alone, so this card uses the figure for the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Corner Brook’s area, at 10%, is above the median in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%), and 1.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Corner Brook sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
A low area share in Corner Brook doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Corner Brook
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Corner Brook; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Corner Brook, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Corner Brook’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corner Brook | Low | $0.007 | 10% | Yes |
| Irishtown-Summerside 1,296 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.007 | 10% | None listed |
| Massey Drive 1,760 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.008 | 10% | None listed |
| Humber Arm South 1,595 · 16 km | Low | $0.007 | 10% | None listed |
Irishtown-Summerside (low) has the heaviest fire record of Corner Brook’s neighbours, and Corner Brook (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Corner Brook faces
Practical steps for Corner Brook’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Corner Brook’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Corner Brook.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Corner Brook sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Corner Brook floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Corner Brook
How is Corner Brook’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Corner Brook grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Corner Brook at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Corner Brook since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in Corner Brook?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Corner Brook’s buildings lose $0.007 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Corner Brook?
The area’s survey found 10% of 211 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Corner Brook.
Does Corner Brook flood?
Corner Brook’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).